pennsylvania society. i remember in 2007, when senator arlen spector received that group's highest award, the gold medal. he summed up the night's value. he said if you can lift a glass together with your colleague from across the aisle on a saturday night in new york, you can lift a pen with that colleague on monday morning in philadelphia, pittsburgh or harrisburg or any place in our state. take a deep breath. tell a joke. laugh together and get more done come monday. thank you so much for watching. i'll see you back here next saturday. have a great weekend. we have not stopping.

that's the vow from ukraine as it battles pro-russian militants from the street and air. you see the violence is exploding. now a real fear of an all-out civil war. and this woman is at the center of the donald sterling firestorm. now his alleged girlfriend is breaking her silence. she has a lot to say. hear what she said about that audio exchange and what sterling is saying about her. and poking fun at president obama to his face. believe it or not. that is one man's job tonight. >> i feel nervous with that job. >> i think most people would. >> don't you think? i wonder if you would be up for it. i'm christi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. always a pleasure to be with you. 10:00 on the east coast. 7:00 out west in the cnn newsroom. she has been dodging cameras and that odd visor ever since her recordings of the clippers owner

donald sterling went public one week ago. now v. stiviano is sitting down with barbara walters. she is defending sterling. the man who was heard telling her do not bring black people to his games. >> is donald sterling a racist? >> i don't believe it in my heart. >> have you heard him say derogatory things about minorities in general or blacks in particular? >> absolutely. >> you heard him say derogatory things. >> yes. >> don't they sound racist to you? >> i think that the things he says are not what he feels. >> cnn's deborah feyerick is looking into this. i know in the recordings you hear stiviano say he is in love with her. in this interview, he says he loves her like a father figure.

she said i'm just his personal assistant. what is going on? >> reporter: whatever you want to call it. a girlfriend or mistress. the label you put on it, this is not a platonic relationship. sterling's estranged wife identifies v. stiviano as having a sexual relationship with her husband. a friend of stiviano's said she has seen video, inappropriate behavior. it was uncomfortable to watch because they crossed the line on all levels. stiviano's lawyer says they were never boyfriend/girlfriend, but they were together all the time. she was his personal assistant. she traveled with him. she took notes on everything he said. she was makes his life easier in the professional realm and personal realm. she was never on the clippers payroll. he had a charity and foundation and other things going on. what is interesting is all of this, the whole thing, all the

behavior, all the comments, everything that sterling did, it is being judged right now not just by the public at large, but very closely by the nba, specifically the team owners. we took a look to see who exactly is voting on the fate of donald sterling. it is arguably one of the most elite clubs in the world. 30 nba team owners. half are self made billionaires. one is a russian financier. another head of the largest online retail mortgage lender. some have broadcast interests or made fortune in technologies. others have lots and lots of real estate. there's a handful of bankers and one former basketball player. one industrial machine dealer and one owner of a popular cruise line. all are expected to vote on the fate of disgraced clippers owner donald sterling, including

sterling himself. marc edelman specializes in anti-trust. >> it is toys for boys. it is fantasy basketball with billions of dollars. >> the owners have not said when or where they will vote or if they will meet in person when the time comes. is it possible is donald sterling could bring up issues on some of other owners and says what makes them more fit than me to run a team? >> he certainly could or could attempt to. as mark cuban said it is a matter of a slippery slope. >> reporter: mark aaronson turned in 2013 when the carnival cruise suffered for days without food or facilities. in 2009, the magic owner was criticized for anti-gay comments. others accused of their own extramarital activities. bad behavior is not grounds for terminating an nba team owner.

regardless of whether sterling fights back or not, if he is forced to sell, after taxes, he will still end up hundreds of millions of dollars richer from his original $12 million investment. as for the new owners, whoever it is, whether it is oprah or david geffen or magic johnson, the name change may be the first order of business. whoever buys it, my gut, will take that will them. >> they need at least 75% to say he is done. we don't know where the vote will take place. we don't know when the vote will take place. the nba owners, many not commenting. many will not do a straw poll through the media. a lot of interesting conversatio conversations. we heard the discussion that donald sterling could very likely file anti-trust lawsuit.

these are colleagues and competitors. if they vote to kick him out, he may have grounds, nothing else. he will tie it up in litigation for a long time. christi and victor. >> great, deborah feyerick, thank you. let's turn to the violence in ukraine. it is stoking more concerns that the country is on the level of an all-out civil war. residents say they heard sounds of fighting and gunfire in neighborhoods. >> in the city of odessa, forces and pro-russian rebels left 46 people dead and others injured when a union hall set on fire. the group of observers held by separatists have been freed which is also new this morning as well. >> also in ukraine, the

escalating violence there brings us to nick payton walsh. we have nick there from the city of slavyansk. >> reporter: i'm standing in the town where the last few hours where the delegation from the osce were held here for eight days here for pro-russian militants have been released according to the osce. all 12 of them, seven foreigners and four germans and escorts. the self declared mayor said that was facilitated by the envoy and not the result of the exchange of prisoners as they hoped would be the case. their activists were held for exchange. they are now moving to the outskirts of town to meet the delegation to take them away from this volatile area. potentially, a good pr move by

the kremlin, who facilitated the release that was causing anxiety in berlin and chance for pro-russian militants to have more favor put their way on international opinion. right now, it is even circled by the ukrainian military. many checkpoints around town, there are russian solders in place with one exception. over to the left, russian soldiers who do to the want to be filmed. we saw them on a bridge down where i'm standing yesterday. during the night, they came under sustained attack under professionally trained militants with grenades and heavy weaponly and shoulder-fired missiles. two killed according to the military of the defense and 12 injured. they pulled back away from there to the top of the hill. they have taken up defensive positions. a helicopter in support of them. this issue will persist in the

days ahead. what happened to the troops? do they come under attack? do they respond with force? the real concern if the casualties mount here, that could cause the kremlin to intervene. they have 40,000 troops across the border. that is why this city say flashpoint and that is why it has continued even circled by ukrainian forces. nick payton-walsh, cnn. >> nick, thank you very much. searching for flight 370, which has just thrown everybody now thousands of miles away from the indian ocean. not even close to where we have been looking the last few weeks. is it possible that a wreckage sighting is the real thing? also, if you see something, say something. that is what law enforcement police officers, fbi investigators always say. a woman in minnesota is lauded for tipping off police to what

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because you can't beat zero heartburn. woo hoo! [ male announcer ] prilosec otc is the number one doctor recommended frequent heartburn medicine for 8 straight years. one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. 14 minutes past the hour right now. this morning, another ship has been added to the search for flight 370. we're talking in the bay of bengal which is thousands of miles from where search crews have been looking in the southern indian ocean as you can tell on the map. >> let's get to will ripley in kuala lumpur, malaysia. will, any reason for the addition of the third ship? >> reporter: hey, guys. no reason has been given to why there are three ships in the bay of bengal. keep in mind, these were ships not involved in the search off western australia. this is the bangladeshi military

to send ships in the area. one ship has the side-scan sonar technology to scan the floor to see if it can find the trace of debris. that's important. the water in this area is not as deep as it is off western australia. these ships, according to the officials here in malaysia, should have the tools capable to scan the surface and see if there is debris floating. unlikely considering we're in week nine here. also, there is the side-scan sonar to put to work as well. the tone that we're hearing here in kuala lumpur is that for now, they will wait and see what the ships in bangladesh find before making a decision to divert additional resources which would be expensive and take away time from the primary search area off western australia. >> i have to think this is a topic of conversation on monday with the trilateral meeting with malaysia and australia and china to talk about where they go from

here. is there any indication of where that will be? >> reporter: we know the search und underwater is expanded and private contractors will come in to try to speed up the process. the countries will work together to come up with a blueprint to decide who they will hire and dispatch assets and assign this whole process shifting. tomorrow in australia on sunday, the first funerals for one of the couples who was on board that plane. although sadly for the families, they don't have the couple. they will gather and say good-bye. perhaps some of the families are now really starting to accept these people are not coming home. it is sad to think there are still some who haven't accepted that yet and holding on to a sliver of hope their loved ones could be alive. >> will ripley in kuala lumpur.

will, thank you. >> the big question is should malaysia send search crews to the bay of bengal. let's send it to our two consultants. jeff and then david. >> i know we said it earlier, there is no scientific backing to suggest this possible sighting in the bay of bengal by georesonance is the real thing. could this be -- i don't want to cast dispersions, but is this a stunt? >> i will cast dispersions. the company retreated. they don't want to talk to the press anymore. it is a hoax. i don't think we need to mince words. we have a lot of voices come out

of the wood work. now the narrative by authorities has reached a dead end. anybody can say anything. it is a free-for-all. frankly, we reached an extraordinary impasse in the investigation where the malaysian authorities released the preliminary report on the investigation and now we understand why they are searching this particular stretch of the indian ocean. frankly it is bizarre. the case they are making is they believe the plane flew between 230 and 350 knots. it was changing speed and changing direction. it was not a ghost ship scenario. it was flown under intentional control, but it is hard to know why anyone would fly a plane in that manner. very strange. >> david, it talked about how there was a communication of some sort at 2:03 in the morning in cambodia air space, i believe it was. that makes you wonder will we

hear from vietnam and cambodia about this? >> it wasn't in the report -- it talks about the communication to the operations. to malaysian operations. the same thing happened in flight 447 when they asked where the aircraft was at that point. they gave the destination it was past where the aircraft crashed. what happens in operations is their job is to plan ahead. where is the aircraft going to be at the next point? what do we have to do to support the aircraft in that area? when can we expect communications in that area. operations is a guy sitting here with the radio, their job is to plan ahead. when they get the call where is the aircraft, they say it is here. they don't know it is here. they know it is intended to be there. at that particular time, it would have been. the report is not uncommon from operations when you talk to them. they expect the aircraft. they are giving you information where it should be, not necessarily where it is. >> david, the next phase of this

search could cost upwards of $50 million, it is estimated. experts say it could take a year. others suggested it could take longer. how long at this level will this commitment continue? >> well, i don't know how long it can stand to be there. the problem is that you can't ignore the fact that something happened to this aircraft that we don't know. in order to ensure the safety of other travelers, you have to know. this is not something you can just let go and say, okay, everybody who flies from now on has to accept the risk an airliner disappeared with 230 people on it. where did it go? to get on an airplane with surety, it is the job of the federal aviation administration and every other countries civil aviation authorities to make sure there is a standard level of safety. you cannot do that if you don't know what happened with the aircraft. >> jeff wise and david soucie, thank you so much.

>> thank you. a teenager gets caught in an alleged plot to attack his own school. >> how authorities discovered this really massive arsenal and the new threats they say he made. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] great rates for great rides. geico motorcycle, see how much you could save.

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okay, so gun powder, a pressure cooker and chemicals for making a bomb. this is what police say a minnesota teen as able to somehow an mass with a written plan to attack his parents and sister and his school. >> and add to that, this morning, in custody, and reportedly making new threats. this kid is threatening people in the detention facility. a small town is thankful for the quick thinking of a neighbor who saw something strange and said something.

nick valencia is here following the story. >> he threatened a counselor at a juvenile detention facility to strangle her with a phone cord. he was transferred to another facility. what is unclear is how john ladue was able to acquire this arsenal for the alleged plot. he is waiting for his may 12th court date. john ladue appeared to be just a typical teenager. his facebook page showed the 17-year-old playing an electric guitar with a skull and shoulder strap. he liked assault rifles. list of movies dominated by blood and gore. no different from many others his age, but ladue had a darker fascination. in a journal, the high school junior, detailed his deadly plan for mass murder. >> to kill his family members and start a diversion fire to

waseca to distract and start a fire at the waseca high school. once there, he wanted to setoff bombs and kill the resource officer as he responded, set fires and shoot students and staff. >> reporter: the attack was thwarted by a resident who reported what she believed to be suspicious activity. >> he shut the door. i thought it looked funny. it doesn't take ten minutes to open a storage shed. it looked funny. i called it in. >> reporter: police were led to ladue and found ladue with bomb making materials. >> ammunition and bombs and papers documented for his plans. >> reporter: the investigation started in late march when police discovered devices at a playground in march. a place ladue used as a testing ground. the plan was to target students at waseca high school and he

expected s.w.a.t. teams to kill him. he originally wanted to carry this out on april 20th to commemorate the massacre on columbine, but he could not because it was easter sunday and school was not in session. >> this occurred as a lucky break or as i do, to choose that god is looking out for us. >> reporter: a small minnesota town thankful this day their town did not become one more in a long list of tragic school shootings. the town of waseca, minnesota, thankful for the residents. he is facing a litany of charges. four counts of first degree attempted murder among them. >> what do we know about the family and the mom? i heard somebody was able to contact her and all she would say is we are all grieving. >> a confusing time for the family. we asked her to comment. cnn international asked her to comment. she would not. she did not feel comfortable talking about that. the grandmother of john ladue

spoke to a local newspaper in mancato. she said he got along with his sister he planned on killing. >> nick, thank you. kudos to the people for saying something. the woman at the center of the donald sterling scandal. we did not know her name this time last week, did we? >> how it is a household name. v. stiviano. she is saying the embattled billionaire clippers owner is not a racist. hi jay farner, pr t of quicken loans. and we're here in detroit michigan helping folks refinance their homes and save money. does it make sense to refinance right now? a lot of times we can lower the monthly payment, we can consolidate debt. we just want to make sure that you know your options, and we're here for you. we're not just number crunchers. i specialize in what i do and i care about my clients. from beginning, the middle and to the end, you're gonna talk to someone. not a machine. call us today for a mortgage experience

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31 minutes past the hour right now. i hope saturday has been good to you thus far. i'm christi paul. >> if not, it will get better. i'm victor blackwell. pleasure to be with you. >> let's talk about the woman at

the center of the donald sterling scandal. we are hearing more from her than we thought we would in a long time. v. stiviano is the woman's voice on the recording. statements that triggered a firestorm that led to the billionaire's lifetime ban from the nba. >> stiviano is now coming to sterling's defense. listen to what she said to barbara walters "20/20" interview. >> is donald sterling a racist? >> no, i don't believe it in my heart. >> have you heard him say derogatory things about minorities in general or blacks in particular? >> absolutely. >> you heard him say derogatory things? >> yes. >> don't they sound racist to you? >> i think the things he says are not what he feels. >> stiviano also went on to call

herself sterling's best friend, his everything and his quote, silly rabbit. >> oh, silly rabbit. joining us to talk about this is two gentlemen from the law group. mark, let's start with you. stiviano now says he is not a racist. he doesn't believe this in his heart. however, on the recordings, she says i feel sorry for you that you have hate in your heart. what do you think? >> well, there are two ways to think about this. one, she could be saying a gap in what is in his mouth and heart in the core. or she could be running from this because she knows she messed up. i'm saying if she has a financial tie to donald sterling, getting him kicked out of the nba is not the best way to keep it. she could be looking out for her own interests. my favorite thing is i am his

confidante. you cannot be a confidante while you are taping him. >> let me ask you about, do we know and how much does it matter whether she is the one that released this tape? >> you know, it really doesn't matter. the bottom line is his private comments became public. if what donald sterling's words and actions take us back to an era of old, i think the person who released these private comments represent the future. privacy is over. we are all under a greater scrutiny in light of our private comments. >> whoever released it, are they not vulnerable to a lawsuit from him? >> i think, look, donald sterling is highly unpredictable. we clearly have -- he has clearly shown a propensity to use the law. he is an attorney. we don't know yet the

unpredictable nature of what donald sterling and his legal team could do. >> marc, the cbs news new york times poll out overnight about the controversy. the question that struck out to me. are sterling's views about blacks widespread among sports owners? 17% of whites believe the views are widespread. 54% of black respondents. >> this is not surprising at all. if you look at any major race-based incident. there is a disparity of how black people read it and white people. we could go back to the george zimmerman trial. black people deal with racism every day. when you go into a store and you get followed. you get a grade on a paper in school and the teacher is not sure you wrote the paper. all of these incidents is where

blacks experience doubt around race over how they are treated. for them, they feel like the world is filled with donald sterlings. not everybody. many white americans would like to believe in the post-racial moment, he sits down with 29 other owners and everyone shakes their hand in disapproval. >> lamell, how long do you think it will be before we see a new owner? we know the owners are due to vote on this. let's say they vote on it and vote for a new owner to come into play. how does that work when you have a guy who doesn't necessarily want out? >> i think the swift action that you s you see from commissioner silver and the committee is the indication of the swift action that would take place here. the only thing that would delay this is if sterling is looking

to have a huge legal fight. i expect this matter to move swiftly before the summer, this team and ownership is in process. >> i hope the ownership team is fronted by someone of color. it would be a great statement by the league. >> i think it represents a great opportunity for the owners. >> all right. we will end it there. we will wrap it up. marc and lamell, thank you very much. >> thank you. so, would you want this job? joel mchale's big night tonight. headlining the white house correspondents dinner. >> how hard is it to tell jokes standing next to the leader of the free world? you know some people who are watching would jump at the chance to get that job. some people not so much. hence all the comments on twitter. presidential historian doug brinkley joins us next.

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the president, hollywood's a-list and the white house press corps walk into a bar. i don't know the punch line. it will happen tonight. it is one of the hottest tickets in town. >> the annual white house correspondents dinner featuring president obama doing stand up

and joel mchale as host. >> there have been great and bad hosts. how hot is the spotlight? joining us is kim coles and douglas brinkley. >> hello. >> kim, let's start with you. how do you prepare to do stand upstanding next to the president? >> that has to be the most nerve wracking gig of all. you have to toe the line. you have to talk about what everybody else is talking about, but do it in a way that is not sarcastic and not snide. he is funny. he is hilarious. >> professor brinkley, is there any president, i'm wondering, drastically unfunny? >> well, a lot of them.

you know it has grown. you have comedy writers. barack obama will be prepared with a video and some of the best writers in the country delivering jokes because we're judging presidents on how they do. we had a whole series of unfunny presidents in richard nixon and jimmy carter. in those days, there were not massive televised events. the celebrity of this began with ronald reagan in 1987 when you may remember fawn hall who worked for oliver north, came, all the cameras were turning on her and not the politicians. people are looking for the train wreck like who will get drunk tonight. it will be a bizarre affair. some serious journalists don't like going. >> namely tom brokaw who said after lindsay lohan became a big star, he is not going.

how difficult is it to write, one, for someone else in their voice, but to write for a president or senator for someone with that title? >> well, i think that barack obama has a sense of style in his own sense of humor. i think if you get his voice, you could get and you could write for him. he will reject any jokes that he doesn't think are appropriate or right. it will be tough, but a temperature plat thtemplate that has been set. i have not hired people to write for me. it is a very interesting dance and you in the end, i'm sure barack obama in the end, will have to choose what he thinks is the right tone and the right edge just enough to be extra cool. in the end, you have to come off cool at the dinner. >> president obama ripped donald

trump in 2011. take a look. >> no one is happier or prouder to put this birth certificate to rest than the donald. that is because he can get back to focusing on the issues that matter like did we fake the moon landing. what really happened in roswell. and where are biggie and tupac. >> so let me ask you, douglas, what person or topic is likely to get slammed tonight? is there anything off limits? you don't go there. >> well, you always can go with donald trump. he is just a joke in himself. what is hilarious is he was there. i think the president likes to do that when somebody is in the audience. with that said, i think donald sterling will have to be on the table in some ways. it has just become a national

joke. i think it is probably fair game. however, something like benghazi where you had the deaths of american overseas and tragedy like that, that is off the table. i'm sure the president will want to do zingers fox news way. fox gets under his skin. this is a good change for him to ping ed henry a bit. >> kim, what would you expect? what would your joke or jokes be tonight? >> all i know, i think donald sterling is not only on the chopping block as far as i know on the table -- i would say to joel mchale, i would caution you going against michelle. leave michelle alone. leave the sister alone and everything else is fair game. the trick is to talk about everything everybody is talking about. talk about what everybody is thinking about and just go for it. leave michelle alone or you will be in trouble. >> clearly he will be in trouble with kim.

>> and the president. >> kim coles and professor brinkley, thank you. it is time for the mint juleps although it is 10:30 in the morning. >> we will go to the kentucky derby coming up. i procrastinat ♪ did you know that 1 in 5 people have had an online account hacked? and 61% of people use the same password everywhere.

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get your big hats and mint juleps. that sounded more provocative than i meant to be. it is kentucky derby time. >> nothing wrong with a mint julep. 19 thoroughbreds will line up for the fastest two minutes in sports. we have francesca cumani at the kentucky derby. there are several favorites in the race. oh, that camera is moving. >> do you have a connection? >> i share a name with. >> reporter: one in particular is a wicked strong who is renamed last year in honor of those affected by the boston bombings. a percentage of the winnings today will go to the one fund.

then the jockey rosie. her best finish was fifth last year. a horse called my loot. it is a huge social event. there are some great fashion aspects. not only in the outfits, but the hats. they say hats bring a lot of luck on race day. not only the women wearing hats, but men, too. they are adorned with flowers and feathers and ribbons and you know, that is probably why the bigger, the better. i have not done very well with mine today, but it won't be blowing off in the wind that is just starting to pick up here today. >> your hat is styling. >> you look great. >> a good hat. >> what about vick is in trouble. >> reporter: vick is the horse run by rosie. he is not one of the favorites.

he has quite an inside position in the gate. he will have to be careful. rosie will have to be at her very best to have a safe passage. >> all right. francesca cumani, thank you. a body builder with a heart as big as his biceps. his story when we come back. bulldog: oh boy!

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it's no secret that fitness training can benefit health and well being, but people with physical or mental disabilities, that may be out of reach. >> that is where this week's hero comes in. when we have people who are faced with disabilities in the community, he got to work the best way he knew how. >> when i'm running, i feel limitless. being in motion makes me feel free. when you are pushing yourself, that's when you feel alive. but there are millions of people around the world that are facing severe physical limitations. they cannot be independent. they cannot live their lives.

i spent years training olympic athletes. football players, body builders. one day, a young guy, spinal cord injury, came to the gym asking for help. i did not know what to do. we worked together and he made tremendous progress. take a breath. reach out. reach out. bring it back. before you knew it, my phone rang off the hook. people asking for help. i opened a gym designed to fit their needs. ready to go to work? for the past 25 years, i provided strength and conditioning training for people with disabilities. people come to me when they are at their lowest. you come to the gym and all of a sudden you have a natural support network. >> in 1971, i broke my back and i have been in the wheelchair ever since. >> that's it, tom. >> thanks to ned, i keep my

upper body strength at maximum. i have been able to live a full life. >> i never worry about what they can't do. i worry about what they can do. >> i can do it, ned. >> yes, you can. good job. >> i did up to ten. >> i'm building them up and stronger to go out and live life like they are supposed to. >> doesn't that make you feel good? >> love it. >> we honor an every day person who makes a difference. if you know someone, tell us about that person at cnnheroes.com. two brave women's actions helped save a bus full of students. >> betty and her sister were at a red light and noticed the flames out of the school bus. they said they had to do something. they drove parallel to the bus and honking and screaming and getting in front of it and slammed on the brakes to get them to stop.

all 23 students and three chaperons and bus driver were able to get out of that thing before it turned into this, what you are watching now. >> isn't that amazing? >> kudos to them. we hope you make great memories today. beautiful saturday. thank you so much for spending part of your day with us. >> stay with us. we hand it off to our colleague and friend, fredricka whitfield. >> got it. thank you. good to see you. have a great one. >> you, too. >> we have a lot ahead in the 11:00 hour begins now in the "newsroom." >> up first, fast moving developments in ukraine. a tense standoff over a team of abducted observers ends, but the threat of civil war as they faceoff with the pro-russian

militants. and the issue over donald sterling heats up. the woman who recorded his rant breaks her silence defending his character and describing the nature of their personal relationship. plus, a deadly respiratory virus that infected hundreds in the middle east is now in the united states. hear what health officials are saying about the first u.s. case of the mers virus. people warn to stay in their homes and off the streets today in the city in ukraine. eastern ukraine. video on youtube shows a bus burning in the road. another sign of violence plunging the divided country deeper into crisis and in that same city, ukrainian forces seen rolling in earlier today one after the other. cnn cannot confirm the authenticity of video, but our crews in ukraine have seen the

violence firsthand. nick paton-walsh is right in the middle of it now. nick, there was positive news today in the middle of the terrible stuff when western military observers abducted were released. give me more details on all that has been taking place. >> reporter: for eight days, this team, seven of them, foreign military observers have been held by the administration of slavyansk. then the intervention of the aide and envoy from the kremlin, are released and back with the delegation. perhaps the intervention of moscow may be a wise move to get a more positive opinion on the pro-russian protests and militants who have taken over the towns. fredricka, where i'm standing is

on the outskirts where there has been heavy fighting. we understand the army moved in. a substantial number of armored personnel carriers. we understand from medics in the hospital there, that a total of two people were killed today during the clashes and about 15 more injured as well. some people have been taken to the same hospital from separate clashes on the outskirts of the area. and absolutely normal quiet town is also equally eerily quiet. you see behind me the remains of the protest that was burned and moved out of wait as the army moved through. despite the claims from the interior minister, the tv tower, you don't see the army at all. they have gone through and moved on somewhere else. a lot of people angry about their intervention there. a lot of tire fires still turning.

interestingly enough, the interior minister says they have taken the tv tower in crimea and that is a position they held yesterday and they seemed to have retreated to it. we saw a number of armored personnel carriers there because they got in trouble below the tower on the bridge from russian militants. a series of messages from the interior minister here. fredricka. >> nick paton-walsh, thanks so much. this violence comes a few weeks after ukraine and russia and western countries reached a peace deal. now russia says the deal is dead. the spokes man for vladimir putin said the military movement is the last nail in the coffin. matthew chance is joining us from moscow. matthew, it is hard to tell what putin is doing to use the violence to push the deal out

the window. what is happening here? >> reporter: actually, within the past few minutes, a statement issued by the foreign ministry which lavrov, the foreign minister said, look, the geneva agreement is the best way of deescalating the situation in eastern ukraine. a phone conversation with kerry and lavrov. he called on the united states to use everything within its power to get the authorities to end the military operations in eastern ukraine. this comes after the terrible deaths that took place in odessa. nearly 40 people killed. pro-russian supporters in a government building inside and torched by a pro-kiev supporters. that is not gone down well. the kremlin condemned the action. the condolences are with the

victims and families of the victims. also saying that moscow received thousands of requests from eastern ukraine for assistance. that is significant. all along, moscow reserved the right to intercede if they see the need to do so. no military action yet, but this is something that is a possibility in the days ahead. >> matthew chance, keep us posted. thank you for the latest. and vladimir putin demanded the troops be withdrawn. listen to what the ambassador to ukraine had to say about that. >> it is ukraine's place to defend its territory in the face of the instability and the separatist activity unfolding in several of the cities. we see it as legitimate that ukraine is using the defense forces and acting within the

framework of the international law and framework of the constitution to get a handle on the security situation. we don't see that as russia should exercise any veto over. >> coming up in the next hour, i'll talk to the man who used to have that job. the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine. i'll ask what he thinks the united states should do next. now to the controversy over the clippers owner, donald sterling. it is heating up after the woman recorded his racist comments came to his defense after the interview with barbara walters. >> is donald sterling a racist? >> no, i don't believe it in my heart. >> have you heard him say derogatory things about minorities in general and blacks in particular? >> absolutely. >> you heard him say derogatory things? >> yes. >> don't they sound racist to you? >> i think that the things he

says are not what he feels. >> all right. deborah feyerick is covering the story. did v. stiviano make any other explanation in her view for sterling's comments? >> reporter: you know, this is something that came out when the first audio was released. they are from a different scr n generation. he is 80 years old. his parents are holocaust survivors. it is an age thing. she continues to say she doesn't feel like this in his heart. she doesn't believe he does. a change from the audio tapes in which she keeps questioning him and pushing him. how can you say these things? how can you believe these things? i'm sorry for you. it is different what she is saying now. she is saying he should apologize for the comments he made. >> can you tell me what your

relationship with donald sterling is? >> i'm mr. sterling's right hand arm man. i'm mr. sterling's everything. i'm his confidante. his best friend. his silly rabbit. >> his what? >> his silly rabbit. >> silly rabbit? is that what he calls you? >> no. that's what i call myself. i joke around and make him laugh. i do things some people find very silly or i do things that sometimes people can understand the relationship. i'm his everything. >> you know, fred, when you hear her say i'm his everything, whether she was or wasn't, that is what she believed. as a matter of fact, barbara walters made it clear that the two of them had been together hours before she sat down with her.

whatever it was, you want to label it and his girlfriend, this was not platonic. the estranged wife said this was a sexual relationship and she was given gifts by donald sterling. a friend of stiviano's said it was a professional relationship, but she heard additional audio tapes and seen video. if it wasn't a personal relationship, certainly it crossed the line many times and it was uncomfortable to watch sections of the video. the connection the two of them have, stiviano and sterling, seemed inappropriate to the friend. again, it depends what you want to call it. clearly, it was more than certainly ordinary business relationships. fred. >> deborah, thank you. we will have more on v. stiviano and the relationship, the man, the message and legal road ahead coming up. also, we will get back to the search for flight 370. after nearly two months now of

waiting at a hotel that offered support to families, the airline tells them it is time to go home. i'll talk to a family member there. and the first case of the deadly mers virus. who got it and how did it get here. next.

welcome back. now to a health story. a deadly virus from the middle east has spread to the u.s. for the first time. it is mers. it stands for middle east respiratory syndrome. a man from indiana was infected after experiencing shortness of breath and fever and coughing. they are trying to figure out how he contracted the virus. dr. sanjay gupta has more. >> reporter: fred, we know this is an american. someone who works as a health

care worker and doing a job in saudi arabia and traveled back from saudi arabia through london, chicago and then took a bus to indiana. it was three days after they arrived to get ill and a day later in the hospital in isolation. the patient appears to be in isolation on oxygen in stable condition. there are not a lot of questions. we don't know where the virus comes from. they believe it made a jump from camels to humans. camels have the anti-bodies. they found the virus itself in camels. exactly how it gets transmitted. droplets in camels spit or meat or camel milk, they don't know. this patient is doing well. 1/3 of patients die from this particular infection. he is on oxygen and appears to be recovering well. unlike sars, this does not

appear to spread as easily from human to human. with mers, we don't know yet. we will keep an eye on things. fred, this wasn't unexpected. you have a global air travel system. you have people moving quickly from country to country. there have been cases in europe and now he is the first case in the united states. back to you, fred. >> thank you so much. dr. sanjay gupta. families of passengers aboard flight 370 need all the help they can get as they wait for news. now the airline has closed the main support center. a family member speaking out to us next. i procrastin

three bangladeshi navy ships are searching thousands of miles away from the search in the certa southern indian ocean. a company claims to have found an airplane wreck that area of the bay of bengal. meanwhile, the turmoil grows for the family members of those on board. malaysia airlines closed support centers at the hotel in beijing.

hundreds of relatives have been gathering there for weeks. i want to go to beijing and bring in someone who was there. steven wang. his mother was on board that plane and is also now the spokesperson for so many of these families. steven, can you take us to that moment that you heard that announcement? what was your initial reaction? >> well, we are totally disappointed and really angry about the way they are giving us the announcement. you know, they haven't given the preliminary report to the full investigation to the next of kin. even today, they have not given it to all of the next of kin. they just simply announced you have to go back. they will no longer supply an accommodations. that is irresponsible.

we cannot go home. at time, you give us an answer. what happened to the plane? what happened to our loved ones? with no answer, simply just announcement telling us, that is terrible. >> and so i'm hearing your feeling is if they would give you more information about the investigation, perhaps there would be a greater understanding of closing the centers, but the centers would be closed first without any real full explanation about what happened. in your view is innocensensitiv it is just not enough. >> yes, of course. they have told us that there will be a preliminary report given to us. we are really looking forward to it because we need something useful. we are really expecting what

happened to the plane. they told us on may 1st. they did not tell us what is in the report until today. three days past, no full version of the report was given to the next of kin. we don't know what happened. it was said by my friend who told me what is in the report. it is five pages. contains nothing new. they did not mention about turning back. >> tell me about that. even in some of the detailed information that was given, that there was a 17--minute delay before the plane leaving radar before any real response. based on that kind of information, what more information do you feel the families are owed? >> well, we just want to know what happens?

who makes the decision not to -- the 17-minute delay happens for the civil aviation. at the same time, the military has all sorts of tracking the plane on the radar. the civil aviation has taken no action. they should be responsible for the losing of the plane. they never mentioned it in the report. they simply mentioned nothing about the military radar in the report. that is the most important thing. a plane flying over your country. it is heading to somewhere else, but you did not take any action. they did not mention anything about it. that is the most important thing we feel they are hiding. >> steven, i want to bring in a few more people in the conversation. david soucie and jeff wise. gentlemen, you are hearing

steven. how irresponsible the authorities would not release a thorough preliminary report and give some sort of explanation why military would not be involved and why this plane could go off radar for 17 minutes before anyone noticed or any action was taken. he has some strong points there. irresponsible, is that one word, jeff, you would use in all of this? >> well, it certainly has been an emotional roller coaster for the families. part of why it is difficult because information has been so scant. i think there is really one big elephant in the room that the authorities are going to have to deal with. that is that they have been telling the families their relatives are dead and they will never see them again, but they won't tell them why. they said it has to do with inmarsat data. they will not open the books and show the nature of this analysis that leads them to this conclusion. frankly, some very interesting information released in the preliminary report this week,

but the big gap, the gaping hole, was that there was no further explanation and the chart they released that showed the projected flight path the plane must have taken to the southern indian ocean is strange. it requires the plane to fly in an unusual way that most pilots would never fly. if i could add one thing, i mentioned last hour, in the absence of information, crazy theories become widespread. i mention there is talk about the potential wreckage in the bay of bengal. that was on the basis of information provided by a company called georesonance. in 2011, that company had a web site. it was not about looking for miner minerals. it was rejuvenation and holistic healing. it was a different company back then. >> david, you have to empathize and feel for the family members who just want more information and they want to know what happened to the plane and where

the loved ones are and where the investigation is going. at the same time, you have to wonder from the airline's point of view, how long -- is it their duty to have a comfort place assistance office and inform the family members in the manner in which they did. you heard steven talk about how insensitive and irresponsible this process has been. could they have done better? >> i think it is their duty. it is their duty to allow them to grieve in whatever way it is. they lost a lot. there are still no answers. they need to have a place to do that. they need a place to be together. it appears to me the malaysian government is feeling pressure from the families because they are all in one place and they are combining into one force. that is a good thing. a very good thing for them. may not be good for malaysia government or malaysia airlines. that is not the point. the point is their job is to console and identify with what

the families are going on through. they are doing a terrible job. >> steve, you still with us from beijing? steve, what is next for you and the family members who are really looking to you as the spokesperson to convey what information you are learning to them? how will you do that from this point forward? >> well, we are really organized. we are forced to go back home, but still organized. we will use every way to communicate with each other and share the information together. at the same time, we are already organized. the united states relatives and malaysian relatives and relatives from all over the world. we will organize and discuss about the next step. maybe we will just keep on and asking for the truth for malaysia airlines and malaysian government. at the same time, we want boeing and they are empathetic with the next of kin.

we need their help to do more things. >> all right. steve wang, thank you so much. our hearts go out to you and other families of the 239 people on board. david soucie and jeff wise, thanks as well. >> thanks, fred. coming up next, l.a. clippers owner donald sterling is in big trouble for his racist comments. he is not the only sports figure who has said something very wrong.

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are you a racist, mr. sterling? >> of course not. >> why are you wearing a shield? >> why are you holding a microphone. >> i am banning mr. sterling for life from any association from the clippers organization or the nba. >> oh, it has been quite the week, hasn't it? after the whole world heard the racist comments by l.a. clippers owner donald sterling. all the controversy is distracting for the team. tonight, they are up against the golden state warriors in game seven of the nba playoffs. for donald sterling, he has been banned for the racist remarks and ten nba owners are meeting

next week to talk to him about a forceful selling of the team. here is randi kaye. >> reporter: another owner back in the spotlight. in 2009, the owner of the magic, opened up about aids patience. >> aids is something people gained because of their actions. >> reporter: devos was talking with the grand rapids press. he did not stop there. when asked about same-sex marriage. >> live your life. i will respect you. don't keep asking for favors. don't ask for concession on a marriage issue which is not vital to them in life. >> reporter: then he went further. >> i deal with a lot of wonderful gay people. i hire a lot of them.

i respect them. they're terrific. i am good friends. >> reporter: before that, devos fueled protests for giving $100,000 in support of an anti-gay marriage amendment in florida which passed. are his personal beliefs now to be over the line for an nba owner? >> once you monitor what owners say, now you are really opening yourself to say which remarks are okay? >> reporter: espn lz granderson wonders where the league will draw the line and who will it decide to punish? >> if you are a league with an openly gay player, how do you turn a blind eye? >> reporter: what about players? remember in 2011 when kobe bryant reacted to a referee's foul call? he was caught on television saying this. >> he is yelling. >> reporter: bryant was fined for $100,000 and apologized days

later on the radio. and what about cases of sexual harassment? isaiah thomas was sued. she claimed he verbally abused her and tried to kiss her. she said she was fired after complaining. >> i'm very innocent and i did not do the things she accused me of in the courtroom of doing. >> reporter: in 2007, a jury found thomas and madison square garden libel for sexual harassment. they were asked to pay more than $11 million. thomas paid nothing. randi kaye, cnn, new york. >> let's get back to the donald sterling case. what is going to happen next in his situation? let's bring in bradley sheer who is an attorney at george washington university. mark gannos is the sports firm

and joe carter is with us from cnn sports. good to see all of you. we know that sterling could be forced to sell the clippers if 3/4 of the owners of the team agree. ten owners will talk about it next week. we know he is not afraid of the word suit. he is litigious. a friend of stiviano said she worked for him and his confidante and not a racist. bradley, how might her interview influence what kinds of legal moves are next for sterling? >> from a legal perspective, all options should be on the table for sterling. his options are limited. bottom line, the league has the authority and ability to require him to sell because of the fact it says within the best interest of the game. here, it appears within the best interest of the game, may lead

them to vote that he should have to sell the team. >> but then, mark, there are some legal experts who are saying wait, team owners are little concerned about what could be the consequence from a private canconversation and how much is revealed along the way about themselves. >> fredricka, the lead-in tells the story. in different points of time and perspectives have different meanings. do they have to go after devos and take the team away from that family because he spoused views which are not considered mainstream. what about the guy from mozilla. he had similar views about gay marriage. are we going into that kind of a timeframe? this was over the top.

this is exactly the situation that calls for a negotiated resolution. he is out of the game for life. that is a determination. that has been done. now, find a way to avoid the courts and get into a negotiated settlement with donald sterling rather than the nba imposing this. >> joe, this becomes a big problem, too, because this is a track record. this is not out of the blue. this recording is accompanied by other situations and other suits whether they were paid settlements or not. >> according to "the l.a. times" his second year as owner of the team, he was recorded that he wanted the team to lose on purpose to improve their draft position. he later said the comments were misunderstood. that upset the owners at the time. he was always accused of doing a lot of shady practices and not paying players on time and not

paying hotel bills and bad travel arrangements. he stalled that force-out by saying he would sell the team. that dragged out the process and the push to force him out lost steam. here we are 32 years later and to push him out again resumes. there was another tape. >> marc, therein lies the problem. the owners concerned about their behavior or private conversat n conversatio conversations. if you have the track record and number of incidents and delayed pay, et cetera, people can say those recorded conversations, is that in large part, you know, the reason why i did not get my pay or did not get a pay raise? he is an employer and that is the difference, right? >> that is part of the difference. the things that were just raised happened many years ago. those would not -- the parts of the team got paid or hotel an

accommodations, is ancient history. the current history of what he was doing with the real estate companies as it related to the housing where he had to pay fines that ties into the racial bias issues. that could be taken into account in this matter. in any event, adam silver made a determination. he is out of the game. period. now he has to try to rehabilitate himself in some form or fashion. that will not come in a court of law. >> it may not be that easy. marc and bradley and joe, thank you, yes. i appreciate it. >> thank you. >> we will talk more about the don sterling scandal straight ahead. we will talk about massive flooding to twisters as well. a week of horrible weather across the country. a look at the devastation and how victims are trying to move forward from here.

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it has been one nasty week in weather. severe weather leaving a path of destruction across the country. a slow moving system in the south and midwest. record flooding from the gulf coast to the northeast. then there were mudslides in maryland. in all, nearly 40 people were killed. the white house says president obama will tour some of the hard hit areas next wednesday. meteorologist chad meyers has been on the ground covering the storms from arkansas to florida. he has the first hand view of the damage and share some of the stories. >> fred, an amazing five days, five days i cannot describe. look at the tornado damage in front of me. no, we're in pensacola. this is flood damage, but it looks just like what i saw in little rock. except the house is still

standing. they're tearing every bit of this home out of the inside because the water was all the way up to the gutters. the house here, a bit lower in elevation, absolutely lost everything. some of the other scary stories here, people were cut from their attics. they had to climb to their attic as the water closed on the ceiling. no more air left for them. they climbed in the attic to be safe there. house across the street, they had to hatchet their way out by the roof to be saved by the boat. we start in little rock. we go to vilonia. then we move to tupelo with the damage there. >> it is moving to the right. >> that's a tornado. >> this could be deadly. >> everything was flying. >> boom! a tree fell on the house.

>> we moved from tupelo to tuscaloosa. down here on the gulf coast, there was a front. it did not move. it wasn't a stationary front, but a cold front. it just didn't keep going. that front right where we are here, caused rain to rain all night. almost 6 inches of rain in one hour at one reporting station. the water came up. this is the confluence of two rivers that never flooded before. the water over my head and not much before i get to the attic. neighbors helping neighbors. the damage you incur from being wet or knocked down by a tornado, can be, at times, similar, except being picked up by a tornado you can get put back together by insurance.

people here don't have flood insurance because this place never floods. i can't tell you the devastation i have seen, but it is hard to describe the help. thousands of people in bristol park in pensacola, and few of them know each other, they are strangers helping neighbors. people coming to help because they know the people here are hurting. people that did not get hurt or damaged or did not get water damage are coming here to help in droves, in buses with churches, coming here to help people they never met. fred. >> all right. thanks so much. chad myers, i appreciate that. straight ahead in the newsroom, the first saturday in may. you know what that means. churchill downs. we will take you there live for the kentucky derby. ♪ ♪

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>> i thought this is going to be perfect for my photography class. went out and saw the kids in the common, heard the bell, saw the guardsmen sent out a jeep to tell everybody this was an illegal gathering. >> leave the area immediately. >> and that was the part where i really started to get angry because it was on the campus. nobody was doing anything but standing in a group. >> canterbury said we have to disperse them, it is an illegal assembly. with that i called my gren a deers forward and we fired tear gas on the hill and in front of them. i never imagined the national guard determined they had to

break up the crowd, that we were illegally on the hill side and that we needed to get out of there. so i didn't like that. i thought man, you guys aren't even giving us a chance. >> i was about 150 feet away, about 50 yards away from the national guard. i was shouting at them, mostly anti-war slogans, perhaps a few insults if i remember correctly. i saw they were aiming at me, they had their fingers on the triggers. i felt that my life was in danger. but still, i thought it was unlikely that they would shoot. we all ran away back over the hill behind us and we were very surprised to see the guardsmen come up over the hill and chase us. >> and when they reached the top of the hill being a farm boy and a country boy, i saw them wheel with their rifles, i knew what that intention was. >> i saw them turn in unison with their rifles in unison and start to fire. [ gunshots ]

>> wow, incredible slice of history. don't miss the cnn documentary, "witnessed, the killings at kent state" this sunday at 7:00 eastern time. i'm beth... and i'm michelle. and we own the paper cottage. it's a stationery and gifts store. anything we purchase for the paper cottage goes on our ink card. so you can manage your business expenses and access them online instantly with the game changing app from ink. we didn't get into business to spend time managing receipts, that's why we have ink. we like being in business because we like being creative, we like interacting with people. so you have time to focus on the things you love. ink from chase. so you can.

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thoroughbreds lining up. i knew you would have a fabulous hat on! that's beautiful. francesca, history is being made potentially today, besides the 140th anniversary marker. what's going on with the one jockey in particular? >> reporter: thank you, fredricka. the one jockey, rosie na praf nick. she has had the best results for a woman in fifth last year. 10% are women, she's doing well to have a ride. her horse, his assistant trainer is rosie's husband, they'll be crowd favorites. talking of the crowd, they're here for the racing but also for the fashion, channeling their

inner southern belles, the ladies are looking wonderful. >> with mint juleps in hand. thank you, we will see you later this afternoon. thank you so much. you look smashing. much more straight ahead in the cnn newsroom and it all begins right now. all right, hello again, i am fredricka whitfield. we are following several big stories this hour. first, embattled la clippers owner donald sterling hears words of support from the woman that recorded his racist rant. v. stiviano comes to his defense in her first television interview and speculates on his motive's, mindset and describes the nature of their personal relationship. and the crisis in ukraine intensifies. troops face off with pro russian militants in several cities. russia says residents are pleading for moscow's help. we'll take you there.

plus, fallout from a scandal at a veterans hospital that cnn's investigative team exposed. details on that this hour. the woman who describes herself as donald sterling's wing man is breaking her silence on his racist rant that she recorded. v. stiviano is weighing in on the offensive comments that got sterling in so much trouble and describing her personal relationship with the l.a. clippers owner. ted rowlands joins us from los angeles. ted, sterling said repeatedly on the tape he didn't want stiviano to bring black people to the clippers games or post pictures of herself with them. so what was her reaction to those comments when pressed on the issue? >> reporter: well, the interview was very revealing, fredricka. we haven't heard from donald

sterling and speculation was i wonder if he's mad at her, if they're even talking. a lot of people figure he was probably not talking at all to v. stiviano, but it turns out that they are still in communication and she talked to barbara walters as you mentioned in an interview yesterday. she said that she doesn't think donald sterling is necessarily a racist but that he just says things and that he does need to apologize. she also described him as a father figure type person, saying that yes, i love him like i would love a father figure, not in love with him. take a listen to what she said to barbara walters about whether or not he should apologize. >> do you think that donald sterling should apologize? >> absolutely. >> did you discuss this with him? >> yes. >> will he apologize? >> only god knows. >> reporter: meanwhile, the l.a. clippers tonight are playing the golden state

warriors in game seven in their playoff series at the staples center here in los angeles. a lot of people will be watching that game as they monitor what's going on/o off the court. thursday of this week, a ten member committee met and voted to move forward with the process, they're expected to meet again next week. >> but everyone who knows donald sterling has said he is a verily ding us person and wouldn't go down without a fight. it will be interesting to see what happens after that meeting and what kind of pressure he may or may not respond to. ted rowlands, thank you so much outside the staples center. again, game seven tonight. coming up in the 1:00 hour, we'll talk to sports radio analyst and former nba star cedric corn bread maxwell. he played with the la clippers after years with the boston celtics. he will weigh in on that

anniversary next hour here in the newsroom. violence in ukraine is pushing that divided country into a deeper crisis. video posted on youtube shows a bus burning in a city where people were warned to stay off the streets today. in that same city, ukrainian forces seen rolling in. cnn can't confirm the authenticity of either of the videos, but our crews on the ground report at least two people died there today. russia is responding to the violence, blaming ukrainian troops. putin's spokesman says they're getting calls from people in the ukraine pleading for help. reuters says according to russian officials, sergei lavrov called on secretary of state kerry to tell them to stop u.s.

operations. and this comes after days of violence escalating across ukraine, and one big question now is what will the u.s. do, what can it do? jim sciutto examines that. >> reporter: fred, the situation on the ground in eastern ukraine is deteriorating rapidly. helicopters shot down, more armed clashes between ukrainian security forces and pro-russian militants. the u.s. administration has now set a new standard for sector wide economic sanctions, and that is continuation of disruption like this to the point it would impede elections set in ukraine for may 25th. right now, the outlook for any improvement is not good. every day ukraine looks more and more like a country at war. here, residents cheer after two ukrainian helicopters are shot down. both pilots were killed.

and here, pro-russian militants crash with ukrainian police. the new violence comes as ukrainian forces launch the most intensive effort so far to push pro-russian militants from one more eastern city that slipped from their control. but ethnic russians resisted, blocking ukrainian tanks, demanding they not advance any farther. still struggling to device a policy to de-escalate the crisis, president obama met with angela merkel in washington. together they set a new trigger for broader sector based sanctions against russia. any interference with crucial elections later this month. >> if in fact we see the disruptions and destabilization continuing so severely that it impedes elections on may 25th, you will not have a choice but to move forward with additional more severe sanctions.

>> reporter: until now, such penalties against russia's energy, arms, banking sectors have been reserved for a full scale invasion. russia remains undeterred. russian officials say the ukraine's military operations in the east effectively can you tell ella deal reached in geneva last month to diffuse the crisis and they called for emergency session of the u.n. security council to highlight alleged threats to russians inside ukraine. to reassure the west and european allies, they're considering expanding and extending military exercises in the region. defense secretary chuck hagel said all members of the alliance, not just the u.s., must share the burden. >> we must not squander this opportunity or shrink from this challenge. we will be judged harshly by history and future generations if we do. >> reporter: the u.s. administration hitting back hard at the narrative you're hearing more from russian officials,

that ethnic russians are somehow under threat and that armed militants are peaceful protesters. the president saying, quote, that generally local protesters don't possess missiles to shoot down helicopters. fred? >> thanks so much, jim sciutto in washington. this situation shows no signs of calming down any time soon and sanctions on russia officials don't seem to be doing the trick. next, the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine gives us his take on what the u.s. might want to do next. okay, listen up! i'm re-workin' the menu. mayo? corn dogs? you are so outta here! aah! [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of great-tasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. nutrition in charge™. [ bottle ] ensure®. if yand you're talking toevere rheuyour rheumatologistike me, about a biologic... this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain.

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♪ all right. live pictures we want to show you inside kiev. we understand the ukrainian prime minister is commenting on release of people that were taken custody for quite awhile there. of course, the unrest is still very volatile in that region. we're going to expound on that right now. the crisis there just seems to

be getting worse by the day. people are dying and russia and ukraine blaming the other for the escalating violence. president obama and german chancellor angela merkel said yesterday that ukraine needs to stabilize before elections this month or russia could face harsher sanctions. i am joined by william taylor, former u.s. ambassador to ukraine who was in the role from 2006 to 2009. mr. ambassador, good to see you. so am i right in saying that sanctions so far don't seem to be making much of a difference and now you've got the white house and you've got germany and other members of the european union who are threatening more sanctions. how might that really impact the situation there? >> well, sanctions need to do two things. one, they need to punish the russians for the actions that they've already taken in annexing crimea, illegally, totally unprovoked. the second thing they need to deter the russians from further

action. the russians have already gone beyond crimea. they've already sent their special forces into eastern ukraine to stir up trouble, and that's the trouble you're seeing now in eastern ukraine. it is only in eastern ukraine where the russians sent in their special forces that there's any difficulty around that country, around ukraine. the rest of the country is calm. so the sanctions which should go into effect now, the elevated sanctions, the harsher sanctions are necessary now, not waiting for two more weeks. >> the u.s., president obama had been meeting and talking with angela merkel. germany has some leverage in all this, doesn't it? it seems to be the country that has the most leverage. to what degree and why is that? >> the germans have a special relationship with the russians and have for -- since world war ii. this is an opportunity for chancellor merkel to influence

the russians in their behavior in ukraine. the germans, like the rest of europe, care about stability in the heart of europe and ukraine is in the heart of europe, and the germans don't want to see violence, they don't want to see invasions, they don't want to see violations of sovereignty, of cross border military action. this is not in the german and european interest. the germans have a great opportunity to put pressure on the russians to change their behavior. >> and what in your view can or should the u.s. do at this juncture, what more can the u.s. do in an influential way, if possible? >> two things they can do, we can do. we can provide additional defensive equipment, supplies to the ukrainians as they act as they are now to reassert control, law and order, in their

southeast. we can provide the communications equipment, the mobility, the trucks that they need in order to have that effect of settling down that part of the country in preparation for the elections, as you've talked about earlier. but the second thing we can do is put on very harsh sanctions now, not wait for three weeks, to demonstrate to the russians that they're paying a price for their sending in their special forces into eastern ukraine. >> and we talk about elections, those elections, may 25th. at least that's the scheduled date so far. mr. ambassador, thank you so much. william taylor, appreciate it. >> thank you. and shocking revelations in that preliminary report on flight 370's disappearance. why did it take four hours for the official rescue operation to begin? a panel weighs in next. jeff... hey, scott! top of the mornin' to you, sir. this is no time for lollygaggin', lad. but we love lollygaggin'. we do.

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new details and seemingly stunning mistakes. the transportation department revealed their report. nic robertson shows us what it reveals. >> reporter: stunning details laying out precisely what was done when the plane was first

noticed missing. malaysian airlines operations center confuses the search for the first two hours, misreading the computer data, interpreting a projected flight plan with the real flight, telling air traffic controllers they were in touch with the aircraft, that it was in cambodian air space. also in that report, the cockpit to air traffic control recordings detailing the last hours, the last minutes that the flight was in touch with the ground. >> malaysian official engineer for departer. >> reporter: 12:41:00 a.m., saturday march 8th. flight 370 takes off from cue allah layup poor on a six hour flight. 227 passengers and 12 crew

members on board of boeing 777 for the next 38 minutes, all seems normal. the plane climbs to cruising altitude on direct path to the chinese capital. 1:19. air traffic control instructs flight 370 to make contact with vietnamese controllers. the crew confirms in what would be the final transmission from the cockpit. >> malaysian 370 contact. >> reporter: two minutes later, 1:21, the plane transponder stops responding and flight 370 disappears from the radar. 17 minutes pass before anyone asks about the now missing plane. at 1:38 a.m., air traffic controllers in ho chi minh city contact counter parts who ask the controllers in singapore,

hong kong if they've heard from flight 370. none of them have. meanwhile, we now know the plane made its mysterious turn, flying over the malaysian peninsula, changing altitude, disappearing at times from radar, only to reappear. almost four hours pass before malaysia mounts a search and rescue operation at 5:30 a.m. but the plane is still somewhere in the air. finally at 8:11, a satellite picks up a final transmission from the plane. then malaysia flight 370 vanishes. not clear what the first two confusing hours trying to figure out where the plane was when first noticed missing, not clear what impact that had, but since the plane disappeared into the ocean, not a trace of it found, fred. >> nic robertson, thank you so much. let's bring back the panel.

david soucie, arnold carr, and jeff wise, aviation analyst. jeff to you first. what stood out most about this report? >> certainly the four hour gap was interesting. there was a lot in this report that was quite interesting. for instance, they released a chart that showed where they thought the plane went. they showed it cutting over the northwestern tip of sumatra, a couple weeks ago had a report the plane had gone around the indonesian radar, and looks like that was not the case based on their current ping analysis. so it went almost right over an indonesian radar installation that raises questions. how come it wasn't on indonesian radar. they also issued something interesting, a passenger seating chart. that's something you don't typically see in an accident investigation preliminary report, and it indicates that obviously they're interested in what role passengers may have had in the mystery. >> and david, what is most

perplexing or perhaps most hopeful to you out of this report? >> well, what's hopeful to me is the fact that the malaysians are trying or making attempt to try to give the impression that they have been honest and forthright in putting information out. as evidenced by the new international committee, trying to ask for help. they reached out to the safety community, other people i work with as well, to talk about how do we do the investigation, where do we move forward. what can you do to help us. they're reaching out, opening up. it appears to be that they're trying to give the impression at least to the family members that they're working to get that trust back that they must have. >> and arnold, were you enlightened in any way from the report? >> well, i've heard about contractors and more assets and this just really complicates it much more. initially if you were to put a

search out after that turn, it would be difficult to say where because it would be so vast. >> and now a top malaysian official says they may send a ship to the bay of bengal after a report, an australian ship says it thinks it saw something that could be any kind of debris or something from a plane. jeff, are officials at a point where really everything has to be taken seriously, they spot something, turns out it was trash or otherwise, do they have to take this just as serious as they have in the southern indian ocean? >> clearly they don't want to. i don't think there's any reason to lend credibility to this company which seems to be a flat out hoax, but they have to because there's all of the public pressure. there's all this talk, it could be there, and who knows, maybe it is true, that nobody wants to

leave a stone unturned, so you're getting people coming out of the wood work with all sorts of claims and conspiracies. that's what happens in the absence of a dominant narrative from the authorities, all sorts of things are going to get expressed. then there's pressure to send resources to check it out. >> jeff wise, david soucie, arnold carr, good to see you. our legal guys weigh in next and talk about this man here, l.a. clippers owner donald sterling. what's the legal road ahead for him straight ahead. this! captain: when i'm looking for a hotel with a wet pool, i go to hotels.com. you can get up to 50% off with their private sales. that man's privates are no longer private. it's progressive pain. first you have that, that feeling of numbness. then you get the hot pins. it got to the point where i felt like,

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welcome back. we are learning more about the woman that recorded donald sterling's comments, the racist comments. v. stiviano is speaking out in an interview with abc's barbara walters, saying she doesn't believe sterling is a racist at heart. she also says she's is not

sterling's girlfriend, but rather his, quote, right-hand man, his wing man, that got paid sometimes off the books. dejour magazine says sterling is also talking about v. stiviano. it quotes the clippers owner saying quote i wish i had paid her off, end quote. sterling was banned from the nba because of those racist remarks caught on tape. nba owners are meeting next week about forcing him to sell the team. some are talking about a boycott until sterling is out. but donald sterling is no stranger to the courtroom. he is widely regarded as one of the mostly litigious owners. and he is likely to take action if they try to force him to sell. the legal guys are here to talk about it. avery freedman joins us from cleveland and richard herman from las vegas. gentlemen, good to see you. >> nice to see you. >> richard, let's begin with

you. you say the nba set itself up for a battle royal in the courtroom with sterling, why, because of his reputation of being litigious? >> no, because of the facts of the case, fred. >> what's there or missing in your view? >> right. the universal condemnation for racism should be applauded. what he said was racist. it was wrong. but this was said in a private setting, fred. it was said in the private confines of his house. >> why does that matter. >> not expecting it be published to the world. if all our conversations were recorded and published, everyone is up in arms over the nsa. isn't that similar to what's going on here? this adam silver in my opinion is a spineless, amateur puppet. they went overboard in this. if you took the secret recordings of every owner, player and coach in the nba, i

would be very interested to hear what their inner thoughts were. stiviano got on barbara walters, lifted a bombshell. said in her opinion he is not a racist. >> in her opinion. >> these snippets were taken out of context. this is a mistake. you're going to see breach of contract, invasion of privacy, antitrust. everything under the sun and he deserves to bring these lawsuits because it is outrageous. >> that's her story now that she doesn't believe he is a racist, but there was some impetus to recording it in the first place, whether she was an archivist or not, her recording a private conversation. is that a problem. he revealed himself but thought it was a private conversation. it is now potentially costing him the whole team? >> you know, unfortunately it really doesn't matter today. the fact is that most states don't even require consent of both parties. >> what? >> doesn't matter. by the way, she's an archivist

because of academic credentials, along with as she put it, his silly bunny. the fact is he should have anticipated it. he talks about i should have paid her off. what he really meant to say is i should have entered into agreement that provided her funds and this property if she kept her mouth shut. it didn't happen. as smart as the guy thinks it is, he let that happen. there's no basis for anti-trust or breach of contract. he may try to tie it up, but ultimately donald sterling is going nowhere. >> you say he may potentially try to tie it up. does this have something to do with divorce proceedings, possibly this is communal property between he and the wife, and if and until the divorce is resolved, no one can have ownership except the sterlings. >> fred, this is unprecedented. >> there's an arbitration clause.

secondly, if he hooks up with his lovely wife and uses a divorce, no court on earth is going to buy that sham. it is a fraud. ultimately while he may be able to jam it up in the short term, fredricka, there's no way any of those claims are going to survive. >> fred. >> richard, go ahead with your point quickly. >> i'm just saying, this is unprecedented in the history of the nba. unprecedented. >> so what. >> meaning trying to force somebody to let go of their ownership, that's the unprecedented part. >> first of all, a lifetime suspension is unprecedented for an owner in the nba. >> but it is authorized. >> to compel him to sell, in the nba constitution, there's not -- it is not authorized, there is not a morals clause for grounds for termination of an owner in the nba constitution. it is not there. i am telling you, fred, this is going to be hotly litigated and donald, call me, donald.

>> you're saying even if the owner, richard, you say even if the owners say we vote he must sell, the nba as a league does not have the legal right to actually force him to sell? they can't do it legally, it would be challenged? >> i don't believe they do, especially in light of the interview. half a century difference in age, archivist, got $1.8 million real estate, for her services, and she stayed there three years and different leave for racism. there are no allegations he was racist in ownership. >> that's not the issue. >> every one of his players are multimillionaires by him. >> has nothing to do with the case. >> his second lifetime achievement award by the naacp. >> which should properly be revoked.

>> they did not revoke his contributions, they kept those. >> they're apparently returning that. >> picking on the naacp because of what sterling did. >> there are lots of directions this case is taking. gentlemen, good to see you, thanks so much. avery, richard, i'm sorry we only have this. then there's next weekend. maybe we will see you again and have more time devoted to this. >> see you soon. >> gentlemen, thanks so much. top jobs are on the line at the phoenix va hospital. you of course know about this story because of a cnn investigation. it exposed secret waiting lists and veterans dying while waiting for care. the latest on that next. many of my patients still clean their dentures with toothpaste. but they have to use special care in keeping the denture clean. dentures are very different to real teeth. they're about 10 times softer and may have surface pores where bacteria can multiply. polident is designed to clean dentures daily. its unique micro-clean formula kills 99.99% of odor causing bacteria

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now the latest on the exclusive cnn investigation into secret waiting lists and claims veterans died waiting for care at the phoenix va hospital. the director at the phoenix veteran's affairs health care system and two other executives are now on leave. cnn's drew griffin brings us up to date. >> reporter: fred, this is the report that aired one day before the director sharon hellman was placed on administrative leave. as you're about to see, it was our final attempt to try to get

answers from her. after being stonewalled two weeks trying to get answers from the phoenix va hospital, it came down to this. >> director hellman, can you talk to us? >> off the property, both of you. >> reporter: surrounded by federal police, that is the va's director of the phoenix medical facility, sharon hellman. who on monday literally sped from our cameras. >> please talk to us, director, director hellman. >> reporter: a short time later, a change of heart. the director and chief of staff decided it was time to answer the allegations that have three arizona congressmen now calling for her resignation. as we first reported, multiple sources tell cnn as many as 40 veterans died while they were waiting for medical care at this va facility. our sources tell us many were placed on a secret list, designed by va managers to hide the fact veterans were waiting

months to see a doctor. >> those are the allegations we asked the office of inspector general to review. >> but those are the allegations i assume that you two would know direct knowledge of. >> again, those allegations are ones that the office of inspector general are reviewing right now. when we heard about this during the house veteran affairs committee is the first time we heard about those allegations, and that's why we asked the office of inspector general to do a thorough, impartial review. >> reporter: that's an odd statement, considering that as early as last fall, the va's office of inspector general had already been pursuing allegations of a secret waiting list and veterans dying while waiting to see a doctor. helman's response, they questioned her in december but she didn't know what the questioning was about. >> they don't tell us what the allegations are surrounding their investigation. i can just confirm that yes, they were here. >> reporter: multiple sources inside this hospital tell cnn

under direction of management, a secret electronic waiting list was created and paper evidence of when patients first went to the va seeking care was shredded. and those sources say sharon helman and her medical chief of staff, dr. darren dearing new about it, because it was their plan. >> i am asking you, maybe you directly, sir. did this or did this not happen? >> i think what we have here, drew, i think there's some confusion amongst our staff. when we came on as a leadership team in 2012, the practice at that time was that they would schedule new veterans that were coming in for care, way out into the future. sometimes a year, sometimes 14 months. what we did is we took the patients scheduled way out into the future and put them on this national tool, ewl, electronic waiting list, so when we had an appointment came up, if a veteran called next week and cancelled their appointment, we could pull a veteran off this list and get them into that slot, so it actually improved

the probability of the veterans getting an appointment sooner. there were some folks that did not understand that, and i think that's where these allegations are coming from. >> so when i'm talking to sources inside this hospital who literally in tears are telling us that patients have died waiting on these lists, those people are confused? >> drew, what we're saying is that we implemented the electronic wait list. and any concerns that staff have, i share in those same concerns. >> have you found cases where veterans are on the waiting list and have died? >> yes. and that is in the course of health care delivery, we have patients who unfortunately pass away. we have found veterans on the list who have died, but we have not been able to connect their death to the delay in getting their care. >> it seems cut and dry to me. whatever happened happened, and the people who know what

happened are right before me. >> i think that's a question for the office of inspector general. >> we have never instructed our staff to create a secret list, to maintain a secret list, to shred a secret list. that has never come from our office as far as instruction to our staff. >> it's never come from me. >> are you kidding? >> dr. sam foot is the person that first became public on cnn with his accusations. he is a physician, recently retired after 24 years with the phoenix va, who along with several sources inside the va says there is no confusion. the secret list existed and veterans died. >> so you're not backing down at all. >> no, sir. >> so what they're telling us, false? >> i would say so, yes. >> director helman, even the president of the united states has spoken out about this particular issue. three congressmen this morning are calling for your head, they want you out of here. are you leaving? >> i am telling you right now, the office of inspector general is here reviewing all of the

allegations and as a leader of this organization, i am going to continue to provide the best health care that these veterans deserve and earn. >> reporter: cnn learned the investigation may now be expanding, no longer just on veterans who died waiting for care, but veterans died waiting for return care, follow-up appointments that they could not get. fred, one day after that report aired, less than a day, director sharon helman and two staff were placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of this big investigation taking place at the phoenix va. the veterans affair secretary said if these allegations are true, they are absolutely unacceptable. fred? >> all right, drew griffin, thanks so much. since november, cnn has reached out to veteran's affairs chief for an interview. so far, no response. you can read more about this story on cnn.com. we will have more in the

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it is happening a half world away. but catching attention in the u.s. talking about the kidnapping of 276 school girls in nigeria. these are live pictures now of a rally now in new york. demonstrators demand more be done to rescue the girls abducted by militants more than two weeks ago. u.s. secretary of state john

kerry in ethiopia says the perpetrators must be brought to justice and urge supporting the nigerian government in finding the girls. police say 53 of the girls managed to escape. let's go live to new york. rosa flores is covering that rally. rosa, a kidnapping in nigeria, but voices being raised right there. >> reporter: you know, fred, this is just a parent's worst nightmare. imagine your daughter goes to school one day and then never comes back because they have been kidnapped by known militant group. this group has been recognized by the u.s. government as a terrorist organization, so take a look around me. this is what this group of people are protesting today because they're asking the world to pay attention to these more than 200 girls who have been kidnapped. so you'll see there's a lot of people here. there are several hundred people. if you listen to what they're

saying for a second, that's the exact message. they want these girls back. this is a worldwide conversation that's been going on, not only here in new york but in other cities around the country and in other cities around the world, and on twitter and on social media. the message has really flared. i want you to take a look around. you'll be able to get a sense of what we are talking about. there's a lot of people here in new york city that are uniting to deliver this message. fred, with that, i'm going to toss back to you and let you know that not only is this conversation happening here in new york but around the world. >> it is indeed. and we're going to continue that conversation here. rosa flores, thank you so much there in manhattan. joining me in studio, a world affairs columnist for the miami herald and world politics review. you wrote a strong column about all of this two weeks ago. many of us heard about it two

weeks ago and the message being sent at the time was that all the girls had been located. now two weeks down the line we're talking about 200 girls are still missing and it is believed nigerian government feels like it knows who has them but now we don't know where they are exactly. >> this is such an outrage what happened. almost three weeks since the kidnapping took place. first thing we heard from the nigerian government within 24 hours of the kidnapping is that they rescued most of the girls. that was just not true. today we don't even know exactly how many girls have been kidnapped. a couple days ago we heard from the police there it was more than 300 taken and that about 276 are still being held. there's so much lack of information, so much lack of action, and only now starting to get interest. >> the nigerian officials said

we have this under control, we have the girls, they have been rescued, then to find out they have not been rescued. the girls that were abducted and are free are free because they escaped. >> that's right. the fact that they escaped tells us the nigerian authorities could have garnered a lot of information from speaking to the girls. they escaped, they walked to freedom. they knew where they were and who the captors were. the nigerian government has a horrible track record dealing with this group. they claim they killed the leader of the organization, boko haram, that was not true. >> is there a feeling the government is complicit with boko haram, it wouldn't be more aggressive about the investigation and about the capturing of those responsible and the rescue of the girls? >> i wouldn't say they're complicit. they have a key role to play in having them freed. nigeria is a complicated country, with a lot of internal

division, with complicated political system, incredible amount of corruption. the important thing is that these girls today right now are still being held, they're being sold off into basically sexual slavery. >> they may have been taken across borders. >> possible they're in cameroon. it is an international problem. the nigerian government needs to feel pressure from the international community. i am so glad to see we're having rallies in new york, the secretary of state is speaking about this. >> to what extent do you think the u.s. would be involved. john kerry says we're going to help, but to what degree? >> there are many ways the u.s. and rest of the world can help. the united states needs to pressure nigerian government to take action and then needs to help it. we can use perhaps drones to locate boko haram rebels, the terrorists really. we need to focus the attention of the nigerian government, give them tactical assistance, intelligence assistance, help them get these girls. every hour that passes, they're farther away, more difficult to find.

they may never come back. >> two weeks, i mean, you know, you can't imagine what kind of experience these young girls may have had in the two weeks now that they have been away from safe place, their school and loved once and family. frida, thank you so much. keep us posted on the on-going search for these young ladies. appreciate it. coming up next hour, what former nba star cedric cornbread maxwell thinks could happen to his former team, the l.a. clippers, and its owner, donald sterling, straight ahead. n, wilu be a sound sleeper, or... a mouth breather? well, put on a breathe right strip and instantly open your nose up to 38% more than allergy medicines alone. so you can breathe and sleep. shut your mouth and sleep right. breathe right. mayo? corn dogs? you are so outta here! aah! [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of great-tasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. nutrition in charge™.

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hello again, i am fredricka whitfield. covering several big stories.

what russia is saying right now about the growing violence on the streets. in the u.s., the controversy over embattled l.a. clippers owner donald sterling heats up. the woman that recorded his racist rant breaks her silence, defending his character and describing the nature of their personal relationship. and a startling update to a story we brought you on one of the biggest beef recalls ever. california slaughter house allegedly puts out diseased meat, knowingly, and is the backdrop for an illicit romance between an employee and a government inspector. violence in ukraine is pushing the divided country even deeper into crisis. video posted on youtube shows a bus burning in a city where people were warned to stay off the streets today. cnn cannot confirm the authenticity of the video, but

our crews on the ground say there was violence there today. that comes just after western military observers who had been abducted were released in the neighboring town. nick paton walsh has more on the on-going violence. >> reporter: fred i am on the outskirts and we just emerged from inside that city. there's a bizarre atmosphere of calm there, there are still pro-russian militants at some buildings there. and despite claims from the interior minister they seized the security service building and tv tower, there's little sign in that town of the ukrainian military at all. we understand from residents they moved towards one of the check points on the outskirts. there's gunfire there, tanker vehicles there. tankers tore apart by violence there clearly and residents telling us that somebody was killed at that check point confirmed by medical staff at one of the hospitals who say they've seen three dead in the last 24 hours. one from clashes on the outskirts and two from the

attempt by the ukrainian army to move in. it appears the military moved in and gone on somewhere else. there's no sign of them in any buildings which the interior minister said were seized. a very strange and repetitive rhythm here. a lot of rhetoric from kiev officials suggesting they're moving in, then little resonance for that on the ground. anger in that particular town because of the ukrainian military advance and we're seeing a worrying in daily clashes. a glimmer of good news today with the party of 12, osc military observers being released by the self declared ministry. >> that was nick paton walsh reporting. russia is blaming ukrainian troops for the violence. president putin's spokesman says russia is getting dozens of calls from people in southeastern ukraine pleading for help. reuters reports that sergei

lavrov called on u.s. secretary of state john kerry to tell the ukraine government to stop operations. some americans don't seem pleased with the job president obama is doing overseas. in this nbc news, "the wall street journal" poll, 53% of americans disapprove how he is handling foreign relations. this comes just as president obama is handling the u.s. economy and the view is it is strengthening. here is erin mcpike. >> reporter: the political winds are shifting for president obama. now that he's got the breeze at his back on the economy. >> our economic strength is a source of strength in the world. >> reporter: he is facing stiff head winds abroad. after years of dismal jobs reports, friday's announcement the unemployment rate dropped to 6.3%, and 288,000 new jobs were added to the work force should have been cause for celebration. but that good news, tempered by

a world crisis, when he appeared with angela merkel in the rose garden. >> these are challenging times. russia's actions in ukraine pose a direct challenge to the goal that brought europe and the united states together for decades, and that is a europe that is whole, free, and at peace. >> reporter: foreign policy was a source of strength for the president amid a still sour economy when he ran for re-election two years ago. >> osama bin laden is dead. >> reporter: but with russia's vladimir putin refusing to relent in ukraine, and republicans forming a special congressional committee to keep the heat on over how the white house handled benghazi, pressure is mounting on president obama. >> everything the committee would look at has been looked at, acknowledged by multiple committees. what's the point? >> reporter: and still lingering, fallout from whistleblower edward snowden's leaks about aggressive u.s. spying tactics, including

listening in on angela merkel's cell phone. >> i am going to go ahead and say something about nsa, just because i know it is of great interest in the german press as well. it has pained me to see the degree to which the snowden disclosures created strains in the relationship. >> reporter: president obama said yesterday that he and angela merkel spoke about imposing additional sanctions that would really triple russia's economy further, if they don't see a change in russia's actions in such a way that could impede peaceful democratic elections that ukraine plans to hold may 25th, fred. >> and then, erin, the president meeting with angela merkel about ukraine and russia and the feeling is germany has the leverage. does the president feel reassured by her and by her

country that that he ey'll be a take a strong stand? >> reporter: that was the message from the press conference. as we have been talking about the past couple months, the white house has really tried to get european leaders on board in their plan to impose more sanctions on russia, and certainly germany is very powerful within that group. that was certainly the message that came yesterday. >> all right, erin mcpike, thank you so much. appreciate that. we're going to have much more on the newsroom right after this. [ hypnotist ] you are feeling satisfied without standard leather. you are feeling exhilarated with front-wheel drive. you are feeling powerful with a 4-cylinder engine. [ male announcer ] open your eyes... to the 6-cylinder, 8-speed lexus gs. with more standard horsepower than any of its german competitors. this is a wake-up call. ♪

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now to the controversy surrounding l.a. clippers owner donald sterling. it is heating up after the woman that recorded his racist comments came to his defense in an interview with abc's barbara walters. >> is donald sterling a racist?

>> no, i don't believe it in my heart. >> have you heard him say derogatory things about minorities in general, blacks in particular? >> absolutely. >> you heard him say derogatory things? >> yes. >> don't they sound racist to you? >> i think the things he says are not what he feels. >> debra is covering from new york. did v. stiviano give any explanations for sterling's comments? >> reporter: she did. what's interesting about this interview, barbara walters said the two of them had been together yesterday afternoon, so the suggestion is that they're still talking, despite everything that's happened. she said she's trying to help sterling rescue him from himself. but to explain the comments that he made, she says look, sterling is from a different generation, his parents to set the record straight are jewish immigrants, they came to the united states,

he was born in chicago back in 1934. and she says one of the problems that sterling had was when she would bring people to the staples arena, people that were described in her words as gangsters and thugs. and that apparently is what sterling did not like and he was getting pressure from people around him saying, you know, this was not acceptable. >> and she also talked about their relationship, what the status is, whether she's a girlfriend, whether she's associate, a co-worker or what. >> reporter: she described herself as his personal assistant, his confidant, his wing man, right arm in her words. she said they met at his foundation and developed a different relationship. he was paying her off the books, his words, and they did everything together. they traveled together. she kept his records and his appointments, things like that. that's what she's apparently claiming. and when barbara walters asked

are you in love with him, she said i love him like a father figure. which is very different. she seems to think it was platonic. donald sterling is heard on the tapes, says you know, she says to him you are in love with me, but it appears she was not in love with him. take a listen. >> can you tell me what your relationship with donald sterling is? >> mr. sterling's right hand arm, man. i'm mr. sterling everything, his confidant, his best friend, his silly rabbit. >> his what? >> his silly rabbit. >> his silly rabbit? is that what he calls you? >> no, i call myself that. i joke around, i make him laugh. i do things that some people find very silly or i do things

that sometimes people don't understand the relationship. i'm his everything. >> reporter: that's a pretty bold statement when you parse it, she's his everything, and that she's his right arm. whatever you want to call this, it does not appear it was platonic. his estranged wife in a lawsuit claims they had a sexual relationship and that he was lavishing her with expensive gifts. very interesting, the audiotapes apparently were released according to a friend because v. stiviano was trying to pressure sterling to have his wife back down on that very lawsuit. i did speak to a friend that said that stiviano described it as a professional relationship, but that same friend said she also saw video that clearly portrays them in a very bad light together. they clearly cross the line. she said even she was uncomfortable to look at some of the images between the two of them. so it will be interesting to see what else emerges.

>> it is a complicated issue and this further complicates it, the personal relationship, the confidant, to his language of saying i just don't want you to take pictures with thugs. code language for black people. so it doesn't explain anything away, it just makes it messier. and donald sterling himself also spoke right, to dujour, had a few things to say which i don't think clarified anything either. >> definitely didn't clarify it. what he ends up saying is i wish i had paid her off. that's a whole new level in terms of what was being -- look, they have been talking, you have to wonder what they were talking about. v. stiviano does not come out as his enemy during this interview with barbara walters, she comes out as somebody defending him, casting him in a more humane light, the fact that he feels isolated. so you've got to wonder. one thing that was clearly bothering stiviano was the lawsuit filed by sterling's

wife. >> there's more. deborah feyerick, thanks so much. the l.a. clippers, by the way, there's a game tonight. they want to win, they have to win game seven tonight before the season comes to an end. but the controversy swirling around the franchise, the owner, donald sterling, and the nba as a whole is far from over. here to talk about it is former nba star cedric cornbread maxwell. good to see you. he played for the clippers, helped win two championships as a boston celtics player, is now a boston celtics radio analyst. good to see you. donald sterling has a reputation of being a fighter in the courtroom inside and out. do you think he will give up his team without a fight, even if the nba owners vote unanimously that he needs to sell the team? >> no, i don't. i really don't think he's going to really let this team go without a fight, and let me say this, too.

if she's my best friend, if she was my confidant, let me find some more friends because i don't tell a story to somebody and then let it go out another way. the stories turn around going back and forth. the issue shouldn't be on her, but it is about her, too. i think the thing that donald sterling has done really has been horrible. the commissioner did it the right way. banned him for life. made sure that now he's going to have to sell this basketball club. and how ironic would it be, if in fact a guy like magic johnson, bought this team or oprah bought this team, a prominent black person. >> yeah. it would indeed be ironic. v. stiviano is a component here, but she has become kind of a distraction. the root of the problem here is donald sterling's recorded sentiment, his behavior, present and something that spanned many

decades. in this case, donald sterling's behavior, how he has been able to get away with this as a team owner for 30 years, does it kind of soil the nba in your view in any way? >> well, i think one of the things you really look at, talk about what donald sterling has done in the past. even you look at the lawsuit that he had with the harassment and allegations about him not wanting black people to live on his property. he settled that out of court. a lot of those records were closed and they weren't going to be open any more. i think one of the things you look at with this basketball club now is how do you go further? how does the nba make this right? because one thing you're doing, you're appeasing the fans. you have to appease all of the clients, and the advertisers, running away in droves. they have to do something. i think they've done the right thing. >> you do think they've done the right thing. what do you think, he is a litigious person, likely to fight this.

if he refuses to give up the team and if he does make this a legal battle, you know, at what point do you think the nba has to change its game on sterling? >> i think almost immediately because you would think everybody is applauding it, saying donald sterling is done. he has a lot of options now. he's already a lawyer. he is going to represent part of himself. he is fighting for his name. i don't see him letting this go. i talked to the people, you talk about the kangaroo court, i talked to my barber in the barbershop the other day. he talked about what are they going to do, how are they going to get rid of him. everybody i talk to says the same. this is not going to be an open and closed case. it won't happen like that. donald sterling, the guy i know, will drag it out, and drag it out maybe for years with injunctions. >> so you are in agreement this is the proper punishment,

because there are a range of punishments for a range of offenses as it pertains to the nba and to players, there may be suspensions. you yourself had a misstep by making a sexist remark about a female referee as an analyst. you didn't lose your job. you had to apologize on the air, but there are i guess a range of consequences for different offenses. he is at the top. he is an employer. do you believe that losing the team, giving up the team, is severe, or is this, you know, tantamount to his offense? >> mark cuban said it best, the owner of the mavericks. this is a slippery slope for everybody, not only owners but for players, broadcasters, anybody involved. this is really moved it, the knob, a long way, and all

counter sports. look at it this way. if my conversation, if your conversation, a private conversation was let out, i think everybody right now would be in trouble. nobody really would have a job, but i think the right thing was done by the nba in going this far, trying to remove sterling, making sure everything was done the right way. but again, the litigations, how this is going to go on, i think will go a long way. it isn't over. >> cedric cornbread maxwell, good to see you from boston. the hunt for flight 370 will soon look a lot different. we will tell you what likely will be involved and the strategy behind the new phase straight ahead.

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check your speed. see how fast your internet can be. switch now and add voice and tv for $34.90. comcast business built for business. about to start a whole new phase. here is cnn's richard quest. >> fred, after all of the urgency of getting to hear the pings within the 30 day limit, then having the bluefin underground to see what it could see in this limited area, the search is now moving into what the australian prime minister called last week the new phase. it is going to be a lot longer, between eight months and a year, according to officials in malaysia. it is going to require different

types of assets, not maybe just one autonomous underwater vehicle. there may be some remotely operated ones, too, because they're widening the scope from a narrow ten kilometer radius around one of the pings. they're going to start looking at several other areas as well. and to make all of this happen, the australians, the chinese, the malaysians are to meet in the australian capital early next week. they will be putting in place various rules and contracts, the cost sharing. they'll be coming to understandings about how the search will move forward. and as if to prove it is moving into another phase, the families of the passengers on board flight mh 370 have been told the airline is closing the various assistance centers around the world and the hotels. they're being told to go home to the comfort of their home where

information will be given and where advance payments are now being made by way of compensation. the new phase indeed is beginning in the hunt for answers to the mystery of mh 370, this new phase will be neither quick nor easy. fred? >> richard quest, thank you so much. let's bring in cnn aviation analyst mary sky after oh and rob mccollum, ocean specialist. mary, ladies first. what can happen monday in this meeting between australia, china animal asia? >> it will be a parsing of responsibilities. i am sure rob will talk about the search and how that's going to go, probably take a hiatus a short period of time. there's an awful lot that can happen when there are not vest he wills in the water and submersibles. there are a lot of unanswered

questions. more examination of what was on the plane from when the batteries were changed to pingers to narrow the location. also, there's lots of mystery about what was the communication between civil air traffic control and the military. i think that there is a lot more to be explained there. and maybe some additional information. >> is that information that would be made public, examination of the batteries or the cargo? >> oh, eventually, absolutely. and the united states, all of that kind of information. we do our investigations just the same way, according to requirements, and all of that is eventually put on a docket for the public to see, and the reason is to improve aviation safety in the long run. >> rob, do you see this meeting, or one of the central things about the meeting may be about resources or money or is it

strategy? >> i think it will be both. i think there will be an agreement formed on the long term strategy, where to from here, not just the immediate term, the immediate search. there are three phases, the finishing of pinger locations which will require deemploying an ocean shield. and to go out and scan the larger area, the last 370 miles of the flight path. and also beyond that if you like, the salvage of black boxes and wreckage. >> so mary, all those countries have been committed to simply hang in there as long as possible. but they also have to be talking about the end game, don't they? >> they do. even the closing of the family assistance center in beijing. you know, in all crashes that happens eventually, and it is usually about the 45 day mark. and carriers usually do it very officially.

they say our assistance centers are closing and they have caregivers, and they give people notice that at this point the caregivers will not be available any more. the reason is often legal proceedings start and the airline doesn't want to be caught between. this is a natural progression, how it hams. it is real hard on the families, when the care stops, it's tough. >> it looks like it is. mary schiavo, rob mccallum, thank you. the nba is doing all they can to force selling of the l.a. clippers. tonight, the team is playing for their chance to move up in the playoffs. we will have a report next. dear sun,

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area you holding a microphone. >> i am banning mr. sterling for life from any association with the clippers organization or the nba. >> wow, what a week. were you able to keep up with all of that? the whole world now has heard the racist comments by the l.a. clippers owner donald sterling, and all of the controversy has gotten to be distracting for the team. tonight they're playing, they're up against the golden state warriors in game seven of the

nba playoffs. so what is happening out there at staples arena? let's go to ted rowlands who is there in l.a. ted, this scandal has to be impacting the players, the coach. i know they're trying to stay focused. it has to be a huge distraction. >> reporter: you have to think so, fred, especially the first game after this all came out last saturday when the recording that came out. the game the clippers played in this series, the next game they were horrible. they came outed of the gate, down 20 plus points within minutes. seemed like they were not focused. doc rivers is pushing the team to be very focused tonight. any game self in is absolutely exciting. tonight a lot of eyes on the staples center in los angeles, people watching from around the country to see how the clippers do. a lot of people who are not clippers fans but are interested now because of what's happened off the court in how this team is doing, and a lot of people i think because they were offended by the horribly racist comments

are basically now clippers fans, at least here in the short term in the playoffs. >> okay. then of course we know that nba owners will be meeting next week to see if they can force donald sterling to, you know, let go of his team. meantime, there are a whole lot of folks waiting in the wings who are discussing, kind of openly and privately, whether they would want to own the clippers themselves. who are they? >> reporter: it is amazing. every day someone else comes popping out, saying they would like to own the clippers or there are reports they want to. floyd mayweather, boxer oscar de la hoya, larry ellison, oprah, david geffen, sean combs, the list goes on and on. it says this is a valuable team. for years the lakers owned los angeles and the clippers were kind of a joke in terms of when you compared the two franchises. now the clippers because of what they've done on the court, they're a great basketball team and all of the excitement and

attention around the team, it is a valuable team which goes to one of the potential sterling arguments, if he wanted to fight this in court saying a forced sale would hurt him financially, that just isn't true. this is a valuable team. he will make tens, hundreds of millions of dollars. a lot of people would love to get their hands on the clippers. >> we're showing that tape of magic johnson at that press conference. the question was asked of him, he wasn't quite ready to rule it in or rule it out. who knows. >> reporter: he has gone back and forth a few times. >> right. ted rowlands, thanks so much in l.a. appreciate that. coming up next, cancerous beef, is it being sold in a grocery store near you? the latest shocking allegations involving a massive meat recall. i'm their mom at the playground

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fixodent. and forget it. we've got new information on a massive recall of beef. it involves a small slaughter house. we reported on this story earlier. rancho feeding corporation pulled 9 million pounds of bad meat from stores across the country. and the reasons why are just the tip of the iceberg. chris frats reports. >> reporter: it started with a whistleblower, then a raid, a massive recall. and cnn learned some salacious

details. cnn learned what investigators believe happened inside the rancho feeding corporation, the plant behind one of the biggest meat recalls in years. it involves cancerous cows, meat not fit for human consumption, and an illicit romance. federal officials familiar with the investigation believe rancho processed cancerous cows when government inspectors were not there, and after they were slaughtered hid warning signs of cancer, trimming off diseased parts, using a fake stamp of approval, or even replacing heads of sick cows with healthy ones. it is not clear which employees were involved. but that's not all. cnn learned the government's own food safety inspector, the person responsible for protecting consumers from bad meat, was having a romantic relationship with a plant foreman. cnn obtained an e-mail sent to the usda that details the romance between the inspector lynette thompson and a plant foreman. the e-mail says the foreman admitted to an assistant plant manager he had, quote, been

seeing lynette thompson, and went to her trailer three different times and they were intimate. the e-mail included personal texts, said to be between thompson and the man. she texts i need a kiss later. he responds "me too." and this one where thompson says play dumb, please, for my kids. delete everything, k. documents show an acrimonious relationship between thompson and plant officials and she complained about processing of cancerous cows. having a romance with a plant employee is against usda rules for an inspector. we tried to get in touch with lynette thompson but were told she didn't want to speak to cnn. rancho has been sold and former owners won't talk on camera. the lawyer for one of them did. jeffrey bornstein says the relationship between the foreman and inspector wasn't connected to the recall. but admitted his client made mistakes. >> there were opportunities for cows to have gone through the

process without proper inspection or otherwise properly being handled. >> reporter: he says his client is sorry but the owner had no intent to hurt the public. >> he takes responsibility for mistakes in judgment that were made. he made mistakes in judgment. he regrets not being better able to recognize, respond and to stop some of these alleged bad practices. >> reporter: bornstein says his client is cooperating with the federal investigation but wouldn't discuss specifics of what went on in the plant. neither will the federal officials who are conducting the criminal investigation. that has congressman huffman wondering if they have something to hide. >> one would speculate at this point in order for there to have been a deception that allowed a bunch of improperly processed meat to get certified for sale, someone at usda was deceived,

right? something must have broken down in their process, too. in the absence of information, i am left to believe that maybe they're a little concerned they dropped the ball, too. >> reporter: the u.s. attorney's office in san francisco is investigating, and a law enforcement source tells cnn that charges against rancho's former owners have, quote, been decided. an indictment could come at any time. >> chris frates, thank you so much. she was found guilty twice of murder. amanda knox says she didn't do it. hear what she told cnn in an exclusive interview next. nd i have diabetic nerve pain. it's progressive pain. first you have that, that feeling of numbness. then you get the hot pins. it got to the point where i felt like, almost like lightning bolts, hot strikes into my feet. the pain was, it was... i just couldn't handle it, so my doctor prescribed lyrica. the pain has been reduced and i feel better than i did before. [ male announcer ] it's known that diabetes damages nerves.

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knox was a college student in italy when she and her then boyfriend were found guilty of the 2007 death of meredith kercher. that verdict was thrown out and knox was again found guilty. here is what she told cnn's chris cuomo in an exclusive interview. >> if rudi good acommitted this crime, which he did, we know that because his dna is there on meredith's body, around meredith's body, his hand prints and footprints in her blood. none of that exists for me. if i were there, i would have had traces of meredith's broken body on me. and i would have left traces of myself around meredith's corpse. and i am not there. and that proves my innocence. >> as for the judge who tossed out the initial conviction, he says this latest verdict is a

result of fantasy and has nothing to do with evidence. if italy's highest court upholds her conviction, the country could ask for her to be sent back to italy. u.s. authorities would then have to decide whether to extradite. tonight is the night the white house can cut loose. it is the annual correspondent's dinner. we will give you a sneak peek next. first, fit nation. >> i am going to show you a couple exercises that you do a few times a week. the first one is a simple squat. spread your feet wider than shoulder width. put your arms straight out here. keep your chest up like me. you're going to squat down below your knees. get down lower if you can. good man. watch me first. i am going to come down, do an easy jump and come back down. the benefit of these is that you're both strengthening muscles and starting to strengthen the heart. do five more, see what happens to your heart and breathing as

you start to go. number two exercise i'm going to give you, an isometric. this will strengthen the core and the spine. get into flank position like this. what's happening is muscles in front and back of the spine are being worked, even though they're not moving. can you feel that? >> oh, yeah. >> turn this way, give me 30 seconds like this. try this, face this way. maybe a minute forward and 30 second on each side, can you do these every single day. all right? finally, we will talk about exercising the muscles around your chest. i think there is nothing as good as a push-up with a little rotation. so for this one, let's kind of face this way t. classic push-up down to the ground. let put in a rotation around this. if you get better, you can lift weights, too. you can rotate left, push-up.

rotate right. push-up. so worry going to seng strengthen your whole body. if not, again, strength or cardio. if you do those a couple times a week, we will get you ready for your race. >> all right. you will definitely be great. thank you . starts with back pain...e day ...and a choice. aleve... il in a day which is 2 ...for all day relief. "start your engines" without standard leather. you are feeling exhilarated with front-wheel drive. you are feeling powerful with a 4-cylinder engine. [ male announcer ] open your eyes... to the 6-cylinder, 8-speed lexus gs.

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. >> all right, here's a look at what's ahead, christine romans is here with a preview. >> reporter: hi, a decisive turn for the jobs market has a real recovery finally arrived neighborhood, plus, no joke, comediennes lucy kay ranting against common core standards. he's not alone, we will break down what it means for you and your kids next. >> thank you, christine. tonight is the big night reporters in washington put on tuxedos and have fun with each other. those elected to office and those who wasn't fa be. erin income pike is here now with a preview of what to expect. we snow joe mchale is hosting. is there anything out of the ordinary that we can expect this year? what is different about the

year? >> reporter: well, we may, indeed, hear a little bit something different from joel mchail. he was on cnn just yesterday and talked to jake tapper about what he is going to be talking about tonight. >> how does one prepare for the white house correspondent dinner, do you watch c-span? >> no, i won't do jokes. stick to strictly e, bad girls club, single mom's stuff from mtv. i think this crowd will get it. >> you think that crowd loves this? >> definitely, everyone can real, it's universe am, don't you think? >> no. >> it doesn't sound like he's going to be taking a lot of shots at president obama's cabinet or maybe even president obama, himself, fred, i can also tell you we will be seeing the cast of "modern family" a and the cast of "scandal" and my

favorite show "if house of cards." on cnn, we got governor rick perry with us as well as governor chris christie and actress diane lane, of course a couple of members of the obama administration as well. >> of course, it used to be, correspondents who go would really have someone of a political persuasion at their table that's kind of what it's always been about. then in recent years, we know the correspondent association has been receiving flack for it. now you have hollywood, you know, making i guess the heads turn and it seems like it's more of the hollywood event than it is the washington event these days. >> that's right. i interviewed the him who who runs the dinner, the executive director of the white house correspondent dinner. she told me when it became such a big hollywood party and it was if 1993, which was bill clinton's very first dinner. he had a big hollywood following. they all wanted to come to the

dinner. she said then of course when barak obama came to dinner, it became even bigger, during those two administrations, we are seeing a big influx of hollywood stars this whole week, really. >> and everything in between those two administrations. okay. thank you so much. we appreciate it. wing will forward it to. of course, we'll be covering it this evening. cnn gives you the best seat in the house for the coeur d'alene sp -- correspondence dinner. tune in. coming up in 30 minutes, we're counting down to the fastest two minutes in sports and a possible historic kentucky derby win. and at 3:00 from tornado to flooding, chad meyers looks back at this week's wild and dangerous weather. see you in 30 minutes. "your money" starts right now. a decisive turn in the job

market. i'm christine romans. this is "your money." like the movie, the u.s. economy was frozen in the first quarter. the polar vortex shrinking growth. but let it go. ♪ let it go ♪ let it go ♪ >> there is a spring thaw and jobs are popping up like tulips. 288,000 jobs created in april. broad-based gains with strong growth in professional and business services, retail, food service, construction, broad based. for some americans, this economy is back. there are even talent wars in some fields. but many americans are still left out in the cold. the number of long-term unemployed remains too high. 3.5 million people. those jobs are added. a few report find 44% of the jobs created over the past four years, low wage jobs. in fact, low wage